5.  The first, second, third, fourth and fifth applicants were born in 1969, 1980, 1985, 1967 and 1984 respectively and live in Tbilisi. They are members of the Equality Institute, a Georgian non-governmental organisation established in February 2004 (“the NGO”). As part of its activities aimed at monitoring of the penal and law-enforcement authorities and promotion of the independence of the judiciary, the NGO held public press conferences and street demonstrations denouncing various serious human-rights abuses allegedly committed by the Ministry of the Interior and in Georgian prisons.
6.  At around 2.20 p.m. on 29 June 2006 the applicants began a demonstration outside the Tbilisi Court of Appeal to express their support for Mr Shalva Ramishvili and Mr Davit Kokhreidze, owners of the 202 private television channel, who were on trial that day. The case of Ramishvili and Kokhreidze received considerable public attention at that time (for more details see Ramishvili and Kokhreidze v. Georgia, no. 1704/06, §§ 9‑66, 27 January 2009).
7.  As disclosed by the applicants’ written statements drafted on 4 and 5 July 2006 as a reminder of the exact circumstances surrounding the incident of 29 June 2006 (“the applicants’ written statements”), they entered the yard of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal through the main gates; the security guards noticed that one of the applicants was carrying a megaphone but did not object. The applicants stopped ten to twenty metres from the court‑house, and the first applicant, using the megaphone, began uttering the following slogans:
“We should not have political prisoners in Georgia! ... We urge you to obey justice and not the private interests of a number of high officials! ... Give me justice or give me death! ...”.
8.  Furthermore, taking the view that the existing situation concerning human rights in Georgia was similar to the terror unleashed by the Soviet State in the late 1930s, the first applicant disdainfully referred to the Minister of the Interior, Mr V.M., as “Lavrentiy Beria’s bastard”. According to the written statements of the fourth and fifth applicants, they also called for the immediate release of Mr Ramishvili and Mr Kokhreidze, as unlawfully detained, and urged the Tbilisi Court of Appeal “not to become an accomplice of the criminal activities of the [Minister of the Interior]”.
9.  According to the applicants, nothing was displayed or addressed to the court which could be construed as contempt: this could be confirmed by independent eyewitnesses to the incident, as well as by the images filmed by a cameraman from the 202 television channel (see a description of the video recording submitted by the applicants in paragraphs 23-27 below).
10.  The first applicant’s speech had lasted some three minutes when several uniformed court bailiffs approached the applicants and, allegedly without prior warning or explanation, restrained them by force. The applicants were then taken into the court-house and locked in the bailiffs’ duty room.
11.  According to the applicants’ written statements, no record of their arrest was drawn up on the spot. In any event, they were not shown or asked to sign any such document. On the contrary, the bailiffs reassured the applicants that they were not formally under arrest, that it was a simple misunderstanding and that they would soon be released.
12.  The case file, however, contained five separate records, on the arrest of each applicant. Those records indicated the name of the drafting bailiff as well as the name, date of birth, address and full serial number of the identification card of each of the applicants. The documents further stated that the applicants had been arrested at around 2.20 p.m. on the basis of section 76(3) § 1 (f) of the Courts of Common Jurisdiction Act of 13 June 1997 (“the Courts Act”). In particular, the offenders had “breached public order”, which took the form of “contempt of court, insults, disregard of the bailiffs’ lawful orders to stop the wrongdoing, resistance to the bailiffs, attempts to influence the court by actions and verbal expressions, impeding the administration of justice, and so on”. All the records contained an entry, made in the drafting bailiff’s handwriting indicating that the applicants had “refused to sign this record or to receive a copy thereof”. The President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal and the police were immediately informed of the offence and of the applicants’ arrest.
13.  According to the applicants, these records of their arrest were drafted and added to the file concerning their case ex post factum.
14.  Having been confined in the duty room of the court-house in complete unawareness of the reasons for their detention for some three hours, the applicants were transferred by the police to an Interior Ministry remand centre; the case file contains an excerpt from the relevant prison log showing that the fourth applicant entered the remand centre at 5.45 p.m.
15.  The case file also contained explanatory memos from three court bailiffs who had participated in the applicants’ arrest. Those memos were half-page handwritten documents containing similar phrases, and were addressed to the Chief of the Bailiff Service of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals. Thus, according to those documents, the applicants, “standing near the public entrance of the court at around 2.20 p.m.”, had started “demanding the release of political prisoners” and “insulting the court by their expressions and actions”. One of the bailiffs added in his memo that the applicants’ actions had amounted to an encroachment upon the court’s independence and impartiality, whilst another submitted that the wrongdoers had been trying to influence the court. All three bailiffs stated that, prior to resorting to the measure of arrest, they had requested the applicants to stop the disturbance.
16.  When they were transferred to the remand centre the applicants learnt that they had been detained on the basis of a decision of 29 June 2006 issued by the President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal.
17.  As disclosed by the decision of 29 June 2006, a one-page document, the President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, Mrs E.T., sitting privately and without holding an oral hearing, decided, on the basis of the bailiffs’ written submissions alone, to detain the applicants for thirty days under Article 208 § 6(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”). Thus, she took note of the bailiffs’ version of the incident of 29 June 2006 (see paragraph 15 above), namely that “[the applicants], who were inside the court building, in its central entrance, were breaching public order, obstructing the normal functioning of the court and seeking to influence the court with respect to proceedings in a particular case”. Despite the bailiffs’ request that they stop the disturbance, the applicants persisted with their conduct, which took the form of “verbal expressions and actions”. The President concluded that the applicants had “breached public order, shown manifest and gross contempt towards the court and endangered the administration of justice.”
18.  The operative part of the decision of 29 June 2006 indicated that no appeal lay against it, that the applicants were to serve their sentence in remand centre no. 2 of the Ministry of the Interior (see paragraph 16 above) and that the Tbilisi police department was responsible for its execution.
19.  On 21 July 2006 the applicants, referring to the suspension of the operation of Article 208 § 7 of the CCP by the Constitutional Court’s decision of 20 July 2006 (see the Constitutional Court’s judgment of 15 December 2006 at paragraphs 42-47 below) and arguing that their detention was an administrative penalty, requested the Supreme Court of Georgia to examine their complaint against the decision of 29 June 2006 under Article 279 of the Code on Administrative Offences (“the CAO”). They complained that the President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal had committed a manifest miscarriage of justice by punishing them under Article 208 of the CCP, which provision clearly envisaged liability only for acts committed inside court buildings; a video recording of the applicants’ demonstration was submitted to show that it had taken place in the yard of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal. Thus, the applicants argued that the above-mentioned provision could not be considered a foreseeable and therefore legitimate basis for their conviction and detention. They further complained that the President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal had violated the principles of a fair trial by delivering her decision entirely on the basis of the one-sided account provided by the bailiffs. The applicants also complained that the President had chosen the severest sanction of those available under Article 208 of the CCP.
20.  On 26 July 2006 a Supreme Court judge, Mr Z.M., examined, in absentia, the applicants’ complaint of 21 July 2006 and dismissed it. The date of that examination was not communicated to the applicants in advance.
21.  As disclosed by the decision of 26 July 2006, Judge Z.M. first noted that the suspension of Article 208 § 7 of the CCP did not automatically entitle the applicants to lodge an appeal against their detention. However, acknowledging that their detention was, by its nature, an administrative penalty, he ruled that the complaint of 21 July 2006 against the penalty could be examined under Article 279 of the CAO. Judge Z.M. went on to criticise the applicants for abusing their right to freedom of expression. He found it established from the case materials that the applicants had truly exhibited “manifest and gross contempt” towards the Tbilisi Court of Appeal by committing those acts “inside the court building, namely in its central entrance hall”. In any event, the aim of Article 208 § 6(1) of the CCP was, in the opinion of Judge Z.M., to protect public order not only inside court-houses but also outside them, in adjacent premises. The President of the Court of Appeal had no other choice but to sanction the applicants under Article 208 § 6(1) of the CCP, since what was at stake in the given situation was “not the judge’s own interests but the authority of the court and the proper administration of justice”. In reply to the complaint that the President of the Court of Appeal had made her decision entirely on the basis of one-sided submissions, Judge Z.M. stated that all the evidence – the records of the applicants’ arrest and the explanatory notes – had been drafted and submitted by the bailiffs for consideration by the President in accordance with a procedure envisaged by law. Judge Z.M. also stated that the thirty days’ detention had been an appropriate punishment, given the gravity of the acts committed.
22.  The period of the applicants’ detention expired and they were released on 28 July 2006.
23.  The recording showed excerpts from a television programme prepared by the 202 channel concerning the incident of 29 June 2006.
24.  The first scene briefly showed several uniformed bailiffs restraining some of the applicants in the yard of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal. The first applicant, holding a megaphone, was hustled by the bailiffs towards the central entrance of the court-house. At the end of the scene, a man’s hand was placed over the lens of the camera.
25.  In a later episode of the programme, the President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, Mrs E.T., was shown at a press conference concerning the applicants’ arrest. She stated:
“... five individuals, ... who have shown such direct and gross contempt towards the court and breached public order in the court... I will impose upon them, by my ruling, a form of detention for thirty days, and this will be another good example [of the fact] that respect towards courts and the maintenance of public order in court will be protected very strictly.”
(“...ხუთ მონაწილეს ამ აქციის,... რომლებმაც ასეთი პირდაპირი და უხეში უპატივცემულობა გამოხატეს სასამართლოს მიმართ და დაარღვიეს წესრიგი სასამართლოში ... მე გამოვიყენებ ჩემი განკარგულებით ოცდაათდღიანი დაპატიმრების ფორმას მათ მიმართ და ეს იქნება კიდევ ერთხელ კარგი მაგალითი იმისათვის, რომ პატივისცემის გამოხატვა სასამართლოს მიმართ და სასამართლოში წესრიგის დაცვა იქნება ძალიან მკაცრად დაცული.”)
26.  The commentator of the programme noted that, prior to taking office as President of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, Mrs E.T. had served as deputy to Mr V.M., the Minister of the Interior.
27.  The remaining scenes in the broadcast showed interviews with the applicants’ advocates and supporters, some of whom stated that the applicants could not be held liable under Article 208 of the CCP, because their actions had taken place outside the court building.